Louis-Saint-Laurent

This was the last day of debate before the bill is sent to committee at second reading. In some ways we have returned to the same position we were a little less than a year ago when the government fell in March 2011. In other ways it appears that the general public, who will be greatly impacted by this bill, are far more engaged than they were at that time.

Obvious place to start the list, with incumbent Charlie Angus of the New Democrats expected to keep his seat. He is the incumbent MP who best understands technology law issues, whether it be Copyright or Net Neutrality. He has also been very successful in educating and working within his caucus to enable the NDP to have some of the strongest candidates in this election.

Hugh McGuire is the Founder of LibriVox.org, a volunteer service that created audio books from public domain books. In his Open Letter to Ministers Prentice and Verner he discusses some of the harmful implications of legal protection for digital locks put around public domain or otherwise liberally licensed works.

Not surprisingly, the dysfunctional relationship between Industry and Heritage -- which share the copyright file -- is now being cited as a key part of the problem on copyright. That's an impression that the tendency for mutual finger-pointing has only reinforced.

In a speech on Nov. 6, Heritage Minister Josée Verner came remarkably close to candour on the subject of the rift between the two departments when she called for "better coordination between Industry Canada, Canadian Heritage and the CRTC."

Prentice told the House that the government has an obligation to bring in a copyright bill to implement the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO's) Internet treaties that Canada signed onto in 1997.

Mr. Prentice should stop trying to pass the buck with this misinformation. Canada is under absolutely no obligation to implement or ratify these treaties.

Letter from the Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages. Dated November 15, 2007, in reply to a letter sent on 21 Aug 2007.

Dear Mr. McOrmond:

I am replying to your correspondence addressed to the Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, and co-addressed to the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, regarding copyright reform in Canada.

According to a Globe and Mail article by Grant Roberson, Heritage Minister Josée Verner waded into the highly charged battle over additional fees for television channels distributed by cable and satellite distributors. As an outsider, this seems to be a form of the same debate we are seeing with the Net neutrality.